


all here

by nevereverever



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Batfamily Feels, Bruce Wayne Needs a Hug, Family, Gen, Hallucinations, Hurt/Comfort, Love, Not Really Character Death, One Shot, Scarecrow's Fear Toxin (DCU), Sibling Love, blood mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-15
Updated: 2019-05-15
Packaged: 2020-03-06 01:16:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18840664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nevereverever/pseuds/nevereverever
Summary: Bruce is hit with a mighty dose of Fear Toxin. The Batfam deals the best way they know how. Together.





	all here

**Author's Note:**

> so. this is my first work in the fandom. i needed to write it for my own personal sanity. seriously there is so much incredible batfam h/c i nearly died. please enjoy <3

It was dark. It was dark and he was alone, but that was okay. He was used to the dark, he was used to being alone. After all this time, after building his family, the dark still lived in his chest.

He wasn’t alone anymore. There was Jason, little, carefree Jason, running towards him. He opened his arms and as soon as Jason touched him, he was a dead weight. His son fell into his arms, a position he knew so well, a moment he had lived over and over. His son died in his arms, again and again.

Jason opened his eyes, but it wasn’t Jason anymore. It was Damian, covered in blood, eyes still open, Father on his lips. Blood was rising around them, and then it was Dick in his arms, legs broken and twisted, lips blue.

Then it was Cass, a bullet wound in her forehead, traitor scrawled across her chest. Then Tim, then Steph, then Barbara, all as the blood rose around them until he was trapped in the bodies and the blood and pearls and it was all his fault.

His family was dead and it was all his fault.

“Batman,” the voices came, screaming. It sounded like Steph, but it couldn’t be. He had let her die. The screaming wouldn’t stop. He put his hands over his ears only for them to be wrenched away. He couldn’t breathe.

“B, it’s the fear toxin.” Lies. He knew his crimes and this was his punishment. This drowning, coughing, retching was his hell. He felt a sharp pain in his neck, and it ran through his veins like lightning

He couldn’t tell if tears were falling down his face. His dead children were now clutching at his clothes as if trying to pull themselves out of the horror. Damian looked up at him, eyes blackened as the dark had seeped inside them. His mouth moved, but no words came

“The anti-toxin isn’t working!” Someone yelled. They were far, far away.

 

All Hands- Manor - ASAP

It was an odd message to get. It was getting towards the end of patrol on a particularly busy night for the criminals of Gotham. Dick hadn’t seen any of his siblings all night. Each of them was so busy with different tasks that they didn’t have time to regroup with each other.

It was an odd, and scary message to get from O. Everyone gathering at the Manor meant either someone was hurt or something big and bad was on the horizon. Needless to say, Dick did not have to be told twice. He was off as soon as he finished wrangling the low-level robbers he was dealing with.

He arrived at the Manor in no fewer than 12 minutes. Steph was sitting with her back to the wall of the foyer and a hand cradling her head.

“Steph, what’s going on? Are you hurt?” Dick’s voice was racing at the speed of his heart. She tilted her head back against the wall, and for a moment he was sure she was concussed.

“I’m fine, Dick. It’s Bruce. We- we were working a shooting, and Babs sent us together so we thought it- we thought it would be pretty bad. At least I did,” Dick sat down next to her and she put her head on his shoulder, “It wasn’t Scarecrow, but they must have stolen from him- they must have.” He knew where this was going and he didn’t like it.

“Did Bruce take the brunt of the gas?” His heart sank when she nodded, a few tears slipping down her face. She dashed them away with her hand and let out a breath.

“He's so quiet. I always scream bloody murder on that stuff. Babs- she asked us all to come back because he wants to see us. He must think- shit - But I can’t do it alone.” Dick grabbed her hand and squeezed.

“You don’t have to,” Dick said, pulling her up to standing. Tim walked, or rather, sprinted through the doorway at that exact moment.

“What’s going on?” Steph opened her mouth to speak, but Dick was faster. She shouldn’t have to relive it, he could spare her that at least.

“Bruce got hit with Fear Toxin. He wants to see us.” Tim’s face flashed from afraid to worried to angry and back in a second, but he was quiet and still as they made the walk down to the infirmary.

When they walked in, Dick held his breath. His dad laid in the bed nearest to the door, shivering, his eyes squeezed shut like all he wanted was not to see. He was silent but for the whimpers escaping his lips, a sound Dick never thought he would hear, and never wanted to hear again. Steph put a hand over her mouth and broke back into tears. Tim stood frozen by his side.

“Dad.” It was all he could think to say. He grabbed his dad’s hand. Bruce opened his eyes, red and swollen from tears.

“Dickie. You’re alive. I thought- I saw you-” It was all Bruce managed to get out before he dissolved back into sobs and it took everything in Dick not to immediately follow suit. This wasn’t Bruce, it couldn’t be. In the past, the Fear Toxin had made Batman angry, but this just felt broken. Dick put a hand on his father’s forehead.

“Of course I am. I’m alive and safe, and so is everyone else. They’re on their way. Everyone’s safe.” Bruce kept crying, shaking with silent sobs that got more violent by the second.

“I don’t believe you! I need to see-” He lashed out, terror in his eyes, written in the lines of his body, before curling at the middle to retch. Tim was there with a bin in a second, no longer paralyzed. He looked unsure, but he rubbed a hand across Bruce’s back until his stomach calmed.

“Please believe us B, no one is dead. Please.” Tim put the bin down and grabbed a washcloth to run over Bruce’s face. Dick looked away. That was a private moment.

He took the opportunity to look back for Steph. Alfred was with her now, speaking in hushed tones. Her cheeks were red from being scrubbed at. God, Dick wished he could be two places at once so he could hold her hands and remind her how good and gentle she was. That would have to wait until later

“Tim? Tim, I’m sorry I’m so sorry.” Bruce’s voice brought Dick back to focus. He sounded ragged, and afraid in a way that he never showed. Tim was quiet, but that was Tim, so restrained.

“It's okay, we're alright now.” The doors to the infirmary burst open and with them came Jason and Damian. Damian was fuming, Dick could almost see the steam coming out of his ears.

“Sorry we couldn’t get here faster, the little bird wanted vengeance. Fear toxin, right?” Jason said, tone casual for the room he was walking into. Damian didn’t even have time to explain himself before Bruce saw them and scrambled out of his bed, taking a vice-like hold of both of them. He had ripped out his IV, so he was bleeding a little onto Jason and he was crying and it was terrible.

Bruce was incoherent, murmuring something that sounded like ‘my boys’, ‘my babies, and ‘I’m sorry’. He clung to his sons with impossible force

“Shh B- hey-" his voice caught, "we're gonna be fine. We’re here, we’re safe. It’s just the toxin. Let’s get you back into bed you sappy lug,” Jason grumbled, trying to manhandle Bruce back into bed. Dick noticed Cass tuck herself neatly into Tim’s side, having snuck in during the commotion. She wordlessly handed Jason a bandage for Bruce’s IV. Jason made quick work of it, efficient, yet gentle in a way Jason usually wasn’t. If Dick looked closely, he could see a tremble in his brother’s hands.

“Can we get him a sedative?” Jason whispered as he worked.

“The Fear Toxin has negative interactions with most sedatives. Considering this dose appears stronger than most, it would be contraindicated in Father’s case,” Damian said in a monotone that none of them liked the sound of. Alfred had gone back to the lab, so it seemed an effective anti-toxin was also far on the horizon.

“English?” Jason hissed at his younger brother. Caught off guard, Damian took in a sharp breath. Cass set a hand on Jason’s shoulder to calm him and in return, he put his hand over hers, a quiet admission of guilt.

“We can’t, it might hurt him,” Steph responded, shaking her head. She bit at her fingers, and the tension in her shoulders hurt to look at. Everyone turned to Dick, thinking that he would be the one with any idea of what to do. He looked down at Bruce, who had gone back to writhing and whimpering, then back up to his siblings.

“I’ve got a plan.”

 

When Bruce next woke up, really woke up, he was in his bed propped up on what must have been half the pillows in the Manor, and the room was warm and full of life. He went down the list that lived in his head, taking a catalog of his kids.

Dick, his boy wonder, was at sitting at his right shoulder, dozing with only a little wrinkle in his brow.

Jason, his rebel, had curled up on the floor, looking so innocent in sleep.

Tim, his believer, was in a rocking chair by the bed, engrossed in a book. The circles under his eyes were so deep they looked like bruises.

Damian, his baby, was clinging to his left arm for dear life, watching the movie someone had put on in the background.

Steph, his prankster, had her head in Dick’s lap, her brother's fingers tangled in her golden hair. She had the sweetest smile on her face as she slept.

Cass, his quiet strength, was stretched out over his feet, paying rapt attention to the screen. Babs was sitting in her wheelchair, but she had leaned up against the bed, stroking Cass with gentle hands and a soft smile.

All alive and safe. 

“You all here?” Dick asked, eyes still shut. How Dick knew he was awake was a mystery. Bruce hummed his assent.

"As here as I'm gonna get." He felt Damian's grip on his arm tighten, and with only minimal grumbling, he pulled his youngest over so he was resting on his chest.

“I’m sorry for the fright, baby bird,” he whispered into his son’s ear. Normally, Damian would object to the nickname, but instead, he just held tighter. Tight like he was afraid to let go.

“Do not do it again, Father. Grayson was in charge, it was terrible.” Dick chuckled, waking a sleeping Steph in the process. 

“You love me, Dames,” Dick said, giving his little brother’s hair a friendly ruffle. Damian tutted but didn’t disagree, and that was enough. More than enough. Everyone seemed to have gotten the ‘Bruce is awake’ memo, and all of them looked to him with wide eyes. Tim looked on the verge of tears, Cass curled tighter around his legs.

“Thank you. I don’t tell you all enough how much I love you. I needed you all tonight and you came.” There was no Fear Toxin left in him, the tears at his eyes then were different.

“Well, I was just using this as a convenient opportunity to mooch off your resources.” 

“Thanks, Jay.”

**Author's Note:**

> let me know if you got feelings because i certainly do holy shit. thanks for reading!


End file.
